so i got my tests back, and one of the issues is low cortisol - which is interesting because i thought low cortisol was good. turns out, optimal cortisol is best, low or high is bad. so apparently i used up my cortisol years ago fighting stresses and its now to the point where i have fatigue and pain. it also ties in with low testosterone, and higher than necessary estrogen ratios.

anyone familiar with reversing this trend?

some more info: i'm 31 ,male, 6 foot 185 lbs. spectracell labs were near perfect with nutrients except b5 and cysteine - will take supps b5 and NAC soon.
dairy intake is more only recently (post labwork) i.e. kerrygold butter.
been taking FCLO & HiVit Butter Oil since december about 2 tsp each daily.
i do not eat many starches as i tend to gorge and/or bloat on them. instead i eat a bit of brown rice syrup daily as per jaminet's recommendation.
i eat tons of red meat, organ meat, and eggs all high quality with sauerkraut and liberal sea salt.
started upping vit c, even though i drink many fresh squeezed lemons daily for years.
i take natural calm nightly and sometimes apply magnesium oil on my skin.

Edit: none of this worked. I now follow ray peat to focus on thyroid and decreasing stress marker.

yes. but, welcome to the rabbit hole. i hope you find what you need quickly and without bankrupting yourself. they are all connected. something happened to you during the womb, birth, and childhood that caused some kind of hpa axis dysregulation and that sens the body into death countdown.
my advice is to learn to meditate and de-stress/increase non-stimulatory pleasure, and find a good chinee herbalist who understands the old shamnic way of healing.

Look into ray peat, paleo is only a first step and doesn't work for what u and I are dealing with. There are radical therapies that basically cure ptsd issues - I used them. Contact me privately if u want.

This is a normal symptom of adrenal fatigue, you're adrenal glands can't keep up and don't produce the required amount of cortisol.
"Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome" could be an interesting book to read.

Based on a single 11 am serum reading you can not tell much of anything. Many people fall into a pattern where they overproduce cortisol in the morning, then do not produce enough in the afternoon. Others underproduce cortisol all the time. To see if you have adrenal exhaustion you need a 24 hour urine test. To se if you are over then underproducing you need something like the ZRT Labs saliva cortisol profile, preferably suplemnted with 8 am and 4 PM serum cortisol tests. Once you determine what your situation is then you can potentially take the best approach to treat it.

Yes, once you get into taking hormones or precursors, it's risky and controversial. I'm just reporting what this author suggests. Of course it's best if you can see progress with just the first 2 stages of intervention, and then you don't have to weigh those pros and cons.

I am not so sure DHEA supplementation or pregnenelone is optimal. Why down regulate your bodies own production of those hormones?
From his history it sounds like he messed with drugs or maybe I am reading into too much of it? Which could have alot to do with his hormone levels.
His pituatary is still functioning if his estrogen is high... if we were talking complete hypopituitarism wouldn't all hormones be low?

That's true, and he's selling them. Nonetheless, I think the kinds of supplements he recommends may truly be helpful. I've looked a little bit at the book "Fat, Fuzzy, and Frazzled", which is about three major types of hormonal imbalances, including adrenal fatigue. The protocol suggested there for adrenal fatigue is similar to Wilson's, but different in a couple important ways. I'll make a new answer of it.

no i dont mean like advil. the brown rice syrup cannot be a problem because ive had the fatigue symptoms for much longer than i've been eating it. i do need to find out exactly what type of probiotics to take, dose and specificity are everything. ive started to eat some sweet potato daily, under 300grams of it.

What drugs did you take growing up... do you ,mean like advil or are we talking recreational drugs? Otherwise I'd say give it more time and try and re-introduce a bit of starch instead of the syrup. Take some probiotics (I recommend Theralac) with your starch meal for better disgestion.

ive been eating strict paleo since august 2010, in the 6 mos prior to that i was lazy paleo. i only eat red meat and eggs for the bulk of my food at least 3 times a day but i dont stuff myself. perhaps i am not eating enough even though i am gaining weight. i have sex when i'm able, it has nothing to do with the quality of the relationship, only my physical ability. my sleep is fine, at least 8 hrs in a dark room no alarm plus magnesium. i dont lift heavy because i am still very fatigued and in pain due to the low cortisol. i want to boost it up so that i can lift heavy w/o destroying myself.

no, i dont have chronic stress issues now whatsoever. i did in the past. i have lower than normal cortisol now, i probably had higher than normal when my life was worse. no steroids or medication in the past, and i probably ate more soy than i shouldve over the years, along with crap food and drugs growing up, but that hasnt been the case in about a year. yes i understand it takes more than 1 healthy year to counteract 29 or so unhealthy ones. perhaps i have an unknown chronic infection or autoimmune disease but i dont know what to officially test for. continued...

how long have you been eating paleo/perfect health?
maybe the brown rice syrup is actually a problem for you.
and you say you eat lots of red meat... try having it 3 times a day, huge amounts combined with lifting heavy twice a week.
how is your sleep? you say "sex when you feel up to it"... are you in a bad relationship?

alright well just try and be as specific as you can. I mean you say your an advanced meditator for years yet you have chronic stress issues. so basically what is stressing you out? you either have some autoimmunity, chronic infection, or you have been restricting calories, you have thyroid issues, or you have been on some kind of medication that has messed up your hormones. have you done steriods in the past?

i dont know what history would be helpful and what would be misleading. perhaps i have an auto-immune issue but have not yet had any specific tests because i do not have any specific symptoms except when i eat really bad food like grains, processed foods, etc - and if i do eat those foods get symptoms that could be perceived as "leaky gut". i will take the cyrex test when its available, but until then i dont know of what other tests i could take just to scratch it off the list. i am waiting for my full GI function metametrix test to come back as well...

can you give a little bit more background on your history... there has to be a serious reason why diet is not fixing this issues for some reason.
have you been tested for any kind of autoimmune diease?

no, i gain weight. i am only on medication now since the lab tests - hcg injections 3x/week, an aromatase inhibitor 2x week. i don't think i've had some kind of chronic infection... i eat enough, don't count calories though.

ive been an advanced meditator for years, i have sex when i feel up to it, i gain weight easily, walk or bike everywhere, get at least 8 hrs a night no alarm, diet is red meat, eggs, etc. i really WANT to lift "heavy" but i'm super tired all the time...?

Again, I haven't read all of this, and there may be important specifics I've not written here. Nor have I read the justification or evidence for each part. Also, having the help of a practitioner is strongly recommended by the author.

My interest in this came from exploring the reasons for my low and variable body temperature. Back in December I tried the pupil dilation test and had a lot of vacillation. I started taking magnesium and vitamin C, adding sea salt to my food, and drinking strong licorice tea daily, and last week my dilation was almost perfectly normal. I haven't tested my temperature steadiness recently, though.

I am not so sure DHEA supplementation or pregnenelone is optimal. Why down regulate your bodies own production of those hormones?
From his history it sounds like he messed with drugs or maybe I am reading into too much of it? Which could have alot to do with his hormone levels.
His pituatary is still functioning if his estrogen is high... if we were talking complete hypopituitarism wouldn't all hormones be low?

Yes, once you get into taking hormones or precursors, it's risky and controversial. I'm just reporting what this author suggests. Of course it's best if you can see progress with just the first 2 stages of intervention, and then you don't have to weigh those pros and cons.

Adress the mental stress and physical trauma (e.g. even stop HIIT, cardio, xfit, intermittent fasting, ketotic diets -- these are all depleting for adrenal function). If you are on a synthetic hormone (birth control) or a drug that kills cholesterol (statins or other cholesterol lowering therapy) STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

That's true, and he's selling them. Nonetheless, I think the kinds of supplements he recommends may truly be helpful. I've looked a little bit at the book "Fat, Fuzzy, and Frazzled", which is about three major types of hormonal imbalances, including adrenal fatigue. The protocol suggested there for adrenal fatigue is similar to Wilson's, but different in a couple important ways. I'll make a new answer of it.

I'm also in the cortisol/adrenal fatigue situation. I've been looking into this for a while now.

Although diet definitely helps, this problem has to be resolved at it's core (vs dealing with it's symptoms). That is, the most obvious things to do are to decrease cortisol and reverse adrenal fatigue. Most of these come from lifestyle changes (getting enough sleep, decreasing work and exercise stress, increasing exposure to sunlight, etc.)

The same rule applies to all other aspects of a lifestyle: decrease any practice that is a potential stressor.

With regards to dietary considerations. In order to decrease the stress on your system, I would recommend increasing your carb intake to around 100g a day (as being in a state of ketosis adds extra stress to the system). Carbs should come mostly from starches and you should always avoid fructose. I am assuming you are at least 95% paleo, if not, getting there will help a lot.

Don't fast or IF or skip breakfast, although these practices are generally beneficial, they are only so when one's body is healthy. Again, they add unnecessary stress.

As for workouts, they should also be less "stressful" i.e. avoid metcons and endurance exercices, go for heavy lifts instead (press, lifts, cleans etc.) , not too much though. Don't workout on an empty stomach.

This is a normal symptom of adrenal fatigue, you're adrenal glands can't keep up and don't produce the required amount of cortisol.
"Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome" could be an interesting book to read.

After I was diagnosed with low cortisol, via a diurnal saliva test, I tried vitamin, mineral, glandular, and herbal supplements, but to little effect. Ultimately what helped me was hydrocortisone pills, which require a prescription. I started with 5mg/day and worked up to 25 mg/day in split doses. At some point after my adrenals have had a chance to recover I'll start tapering off the hydrocortisone and let my adrenals slowly make up the difference.

I know I'm late to the show. But I'm a 20 year old with low testosterone, hypothyroidism, and adrenal fatigue. Could years of hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue cause low testosterone? Haven't seem a connection on that.

yes. but, welcome to the rabbit hole. i hope you find what you need quickly and without bankrupting yourself. they are all connected. something happened to you during the womb, birth, and childhood that caused some kind of hpa axis dysregulation and that sens the body into death countdown.
my advice is to learn to meditate and de-stress/increase non-stimulatory pleasure, and find a good chinee herbalist who understands the old shamnic way of healing.

What helped for you? I am in the same place, but I have PTSD, which accounts for why. High estrogen, low cortisol, fatigue, chronic daily headache, period issues. I want natural, since I already take meds for the PTSD.

Look into ray peat, paleo is only a first step and doesn't work for what u and I are dealing with. There are radical therapies that basically cure ptsd issues - I used them. Contact me privately if u want.

Based on a single 11 am serum reading you can not tell much of anything. Many people fall into a pattern where they overproduce cortisol in the morning, then do not produce enough in the afternoon. Others underproduce cortisol all the time. To see if you have adrenal exhaustion you need a 24 hour urine test. To se if you are over then underproducing you need something like the ZRT Labs saliva cortisol profile, preferably suplemnted with 8 am and 4 PM serum cortisol tests. Once you determine what your situation is then you can potentially take the best approach to treat it.

Make sure your eating some starch... keep carbs around 100g per day. Don't IF. Keep any HIIT or intense cardio to once a week, 20 mins max. Lift heavy twice a week for testosterone. Lots of egg yolks, red meat. Have you just lost a bunch of weight? Make sure you are sleep 8 hours a night.

no, i gain weight. i am only on medication now since the lab tests - hcg injections 3x/week, an aromatase inhibitor 2x week. i don't think i've had some kind of chronic infection... i eat enough, don't count calories though.

alright well just try and be as specific as you can. I mean you say your an advanced meditator for years yet you have chronic stress issues. so basically what is stressing you out? you either have some autoimmunity, chronic infection, or you have been restricting calories, you have thyroid issues, or you have been on some kind of medication that has messed up your hormones. have you done steriods in the past?

i dont know what history would be helpful and what would be misleading. perhaps i have an auto-immune issue but have not yet had any specific tests because i do not have any specific symptoms except when i eat really bad food like grains, processed foods, etc - and if i do eat those foods get symptoms that could be perceived as "leaky gut". i will take the cyrex test when its available, but until then i dont know of what other tests i could take just to scratch it off the list. i am waiting for my full GI function metametrix test to come back as well...

can you give a little bit more background on your history... there has to be a serious reason why diet is not fixing this issues for some reason.
have you been tested for any kind of autoimmune diease?

how long have you been eating paleo/perfect health?
maybe the brown rice syrup is actually a problem for you.
and you say you eat lots of red meat... try having it 3 times a day, huge amounts combined with lifting heavy twice a week.
how is your sleep? you say "sex when you feel up to it"... are you in a bad relationship?

no, i dont have chronic stress issues now whatsoever. i did in the past. i have lower than normal cortisol now, i probably had higher than normal when my life was worse. no steroids or medication in the past, and i probably ate more soy than i shouldve over the years, along with crap food and drugs growing up, but that hasnt been the case in about a year. yes i understand it takes more than 1 healthy year to counteract 29 or so unhealthy ones. perhaps i have an unknown chronic infection or autoimmune disease but i dont know what to officially test for. continued...

no i dont mean like advil. the brown rice syrup cannot be a problem because ive had the fatigue symptoms for much longer than i've been eating it. i do need to find out exactly what type of probiotics to take, dose and specificity are everything. ive started to eat some sweet potato daily, under 300grams of it.

ive been an advanced meditator for years, i have sex when i feel up to it, i gain weight easily, walk or bike everywhere, get at least 8 hrs a night no alarm, diet is red meat, eggs, etc. i really WANT to lift "heavy" but i'm super tired all the time...?

ive been eating strict paleo since august 2010, in the 6 mos prior to that i was lazy paleo. i only eat red meat and eggs for the bulk of my food at least 3 times a day but i dont stuff myself. perhaps i am not eating enough even though i am gaining weight. i have sex when i'm able, it has nothing to do with the quality of the relationship, only my physical ability. my sleep is fine, at least 8 hrs in a dark room no alarm plus magnesium. i dont lift heavy because i am still very fatigued and in pain due to the low cortisol. i want to boost it up so that i can lift heavy w/o destroying myself.

What drugs did you take growing up... do you ,mean like advil or are we talking recreational drugs? Otherwise I'd say give it more time and try and re-introduce a bit of starch instead of the syrup. Take some probiotics (I recommend Theralac) with your starch meal for better disgestion.